Classic and Contemporary Poetry
RETIREMENT: AN ODE, by THOMAS WARTON THE ELDER Poet's Biography First Line: On beds of daisies idly laid Last Line: Meet to adore some calf of gold. Subject(s): Greed; Happiness; Labor & Laborers; Nature; Pleasure; Retirement; Avarice; Cupidity; Joy; Delight; Work; Workers | ||||||||
I. ON Beds of Daisies idly laid, The Willow waving o'er my Head, Now Morning on the bending Stem, Hangs the round, and glittering Gem, Lull'd by the Lapse of yonder Spring, Of Nature's various Charms I sing: Ambition, Pride, and Pomp adieu! For what has Joy to do with You? II. Joy, rose-lipt Dryad loves to dwell In sunny Field, or mossy Cell, Delights on echoing Hills to hear The Reaper's Song, or lowing Steer; Or view with tenfold Plenty spread The crowded Corn-field, blooming Mead; While Beauty, Health, and Innocence Transport the Eye, the Soul, the Sense. III. Not fresco'd Roofs, not Beds of State, Not Guards that round a Monarch wait, Not Crowds of Flatterers can scare From loftiest Courts intruding Care: Midst Odours, Splendors, Banquets, Wine, While Minstrels sound, while Tapers shine, In Sable stole sad Care will come, And darken the gay Drawing-room. IV. Nymphs of the Groves, in green array'd, Conduct me to your thickest Shade, Deep in the Bosom of the Vale, Where haunts the lonesome Nightingale, Where Contemplation, Maid divine, Leans against some aged Pine, Wrapt in stedfast Thought profound, Her Eyes fixt stedfast on the Ground. V. O Virtue's Nurse! retired Queen, By Saints alone and Hermits seen, Beyond vain Mortals' Wishes wise, Teach me St. James's to despise; For what are crowded Courts, but Schools For Fops, or Hospitals for Fools? Where Slaves and Madmen, Young and Old, Meet to adore some Calf of Gold. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AFTER WORKING SIXTY HOURS AGAIN FOR WHAT REASON by HICOK. BOB DAY JOB AND NIGHT JOB by ANDREW HUDGINS BIXBY'S LANDING by ROBINSON JEFFERS ON BUILDING WITH STONE by ROBINSON JEFFERS LINES FROM A PLUTOCRATIC POETASTER TO A DITCH-DIGGER by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS IN CALIFORNIA: MORNING, EVENING, LATE JANUARY by DENISE LEVERTOV A FAREWELL TO POETRY by THOMAS WARTON THE ELDER A FRAGMENT OF A SATIRE by THOMAS WARTON THE ELDER A PARAPHRASE ON THE 13TH CHAPTER OF ISAIAH by THOMAS WARTON THE ELDER |
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